1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety stop for woodworking machines, particularly milling machines, having a first stop plate and a second stop plate, which stop plates are arranged in a common plane on both sides of the tool and leave free between them a slot for the passage of the tool, and having stop bars which extend parallel to each other and span over the slot, said bars engaging in grooves in the stop plates.
2. Statement of Related Art
In the safety stops heretofore used in actual operation, stop bars are kept on hand for the two stop plates, it being necessary to fasten them one above the other on the two stop plates at a greater or lesser distance apart depending on the size of the milling tool which is used. For this purpose an Allen wrench is generally used in order to be able to fasten the screws seated on the bars in engagement slots in the stop plates.
This has been found to have the disadvantage that it is necessary to keep on hand a plurality of stop plates, which are generally of different height, so that the worker is forced to remove them from their place of storage when they are needed. This practice is not only time-consuming and cumbersome but also leads to the stop bars not being used at all in order not to have to mount them. In addition, a tool is necessary for the fastening of the stop bars. Furthermore, the loose individual parts ar easily lost.
From Federal Republic of Germany Provisional Patent No. AS 1 031 954 a safety stop of the above-mentioned type is known which has a plurality of loose stop bars which must be inserted as needed into the grooves of the stop plates. For this purpose it is necessary to move the two stop plates away from each other in order to be able to insert the bars into the grooves. When the two stop plates are thereafter brought together the inclined ends of the stop bars are enclosed between beveled ends of cover parts which partially cover the grooves.
As a result, this safety stop has the same disadvantages, which reside in the fact that the bars are available only in loose form and may be lost or must frequently be sought in time-consuming fashion. Furthermore, the width of the slot between the two stop plates for the passage of the tool cannot be varied since the width of the slot is dependent on the length of the stop bars.